Australia’s first standalone waste-to-energy plants in the final stages of construction in WA

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Countries have been burning household waste on an industrial scale overseas for decades. But the technology has never caught on in Australia - until now. The first standalone waste-to-energy plants that will burn rubbish to power homes are in the final stages of construction in Western Australia with more facilities being proposed around the country.

Transcript

00:00 After years in the pipeline, this waste-to-energy plant south of Perth is just a few months

00:07 away from receiving its first household and commercial rubbish.

00:11 So the trucks will come in and reverse through these bays back to the bunker where they'll

00:16 tip their waste.

00:18 They've been burning waste on a big scale overseas for decades. Some of the latest plants

00:23 have even become tourist attractions. WA's version isn't quite as colourful, but it will

00:29 do a similar job.

00:30 Our boiler will generate about 101 megawatts of thermal energy and that will convert to

00:36 just under 29 megawatts of electricity.

00:38 This is one of two waste-to-energy plants that are expected to open here next year.

00:44 And together they'll process about 700,000 tonnes of waste a year and supply electricity

00:51 for about 80,000 homes.

00:55 For councils with landfill sites reaching capacity, the new plants can't open soon enough.

01:02 Landfill sites emit methane, which traps heat and warms the planet much more than carbon

01:08 dioxide.

01:09 We get our community to recycle everything possible that can be sorted out and not reused

01:15 and then anything that's residual going to the waste-to-energy plant, that's a good outcome.

01:22 But is it perfect? Well, no. According to the government's waste management hierarchy,

01:28 waste-to-energy is close to the bottom of a list of preferred options. Recycling, reusing

01:34 stuff or avoiding waste in the first place are all preferable.

01:39 Opponents say waste-to-energy will be seen as an easy way out.

01:43 What it is, is surrender. It is actually surrender. It's the total opposite of what we need to

01:50 be doing right now and that is knuckling down, redesigning products, investing in new technologies.

01:57 But proponents believe waste-to-energy will play a vital transitional role.

02:02 If we get to Nirvana and zero waste where everything could be recycled, arguably we

02:07 wouldn't need landfill or energy recovery. However, we're a really long way away from

02:10 that point.

02:11 The industry wants a national framework to fast-track all waste recovery projects, including

02:17 waste-to-energy.

02:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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